How Not To Write Effective Thank You Notes

Doug, over at Service Untitled, is one of my “must read” customer service blogs. His advice is actionable and relevant.

But today I’m going to respectfully disagree with him. In a post about handwriting thank you notes when you have lousy handwriting, he correctly suggests that you:

Print carefully and make your handwriting as legible as possible.

But then he goes on to write:

If possible, ask someone else to write it. Everyone knows someone with good hand writing, so just ask them to write a few lines down (with text you provide, of course). That is probably the best solution.

Cue the game show buzzer, lights, and siren. Sorry. Wrong answer! But thank you for playing.

THE key ingredient that makes your hand written thank you note “personal” is that you wrote it. To have someone else write it makes it impersonal. The reader will immediately notice the difference between the handwriting in the text and your signature. If you don’t sign it yourself, then it’s definitely not personal, either.

I’ve written four other posts on the topic of thank you notes. In this one, I address how I deal with my lousy handwriting and I link to other resources that actually lay out how to write a thank you note.

Because my signature is illegible, I use personalized stationery with my first and last name embossed on it. It cost about $50

Doug and I disagree about one point involving thank you notes. But we both agree on their importance.Thank you notes can give you a great ROI with your customers (internal and external) by setting you apart from your competition. They are well worth the few minutes it takes to write them. (And as your mother taught you, writing thank you notes demonstrates your good manners as well.